'Blank' voters could be key

Which way will the blanks break?

That's the question in Nassau County where those who are unaffiliated with a political party — referred to casually by political insiders as "the blanks" — make up more of the electorate each year.

As of 3:30 Tuesday, nearly 43,959 unaffiliated voters joined 60,579 registered Republicans and 62,292 registered Democrats to vote in-person.

Along with some of the other minor party voters, they made up about 170,000 Nassau residents who cast ballots on Election Day.

With just about 5 more hours until the polls close, the leaders of Nassau's two major political parties seem to have differing takes.

Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph Cairo told Newsday he thinks Republicans and many more are "coming out strong" for Bruce Blakeman, the county executive who is challenging Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.

"We expect to continue our winning results with blank and independent voters," Cairo said.

But New York State Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs, who is also leader of the party in Nassau, disagrees. He said he expected more Republicans to come out and feels confident more Democrats will vote Tuesday night. He says blank voters, depending on the year and the issues, break Democratic in the county too.

"We went into Election Day up about 22,000 countywide, Democrat to Republican," Jacobs told Newsday as he was headed into Manhattan to join Hochul and city Democrats. "I think it's a good sign for Democrats that unaffiliated voters are energized and seem to be enthusiastic about voting." 
Jacobs seemed so confident in the results he said he would "congratulate the governor by 9:30 and high tail it back to New Hyde Park" to join Nassau Democrats at their watch party.

Newsday's Peter Gill contributed to this blog post.

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.